SEV Biblia, Chapter 18:19
Envía pues ahora y júntame a todo Israel en el monte del Carmelo, y los cuatrocientos cincuenta profetas de Baal, y los cuatrocientos profetas de los bosques, que comen de la mesa de Jezabel.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 18:19
Verse 19. Gather to me all Israel] The heads of tribes and families; the rulers of the people. The prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty-the prophets of the groves four hundred] The king and queen had different religious establishments; the king and his servants worshipped Baal, the supreme lord and master of the world, the sun. For this establishment four hundred and fifty priests were maintained. The queen and her women worshipped hrŤa Asherah, Astarte, or Venus; and for this establishment four hundred priests were maintained. These latter were in high honour; they ate at Jezebel's table; they made a part of her household. It appears that those eight hundred and fifty priests were the domestic chaplains of the king and queen, and probably not all the priests that belonged to the rites of Baal and Asherah in the land; and yet from the following verse we learn that Ahab had sent to all the children of Israel to collect these prophets; but Jezebel had certainly four hundred of them in her own house who were not at the assembly mentioned here. Those of Baal might have a more extensive jurisdiction than those of Asherah, the latter being constantly resident in Samaria.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 19. Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel . etc.] No doubt but more discourse passed between Ahab and Elijah, though not recorded, before he made this motion to him; it is very probable, that after some dispute between them, who was the true God, and about idolatry, as the cause of want of rain, Elijah proposed to the king what he afterwards did to the people, to which he could not object; and being desirous of gratifying his curiosity, and especially of having rain, which the prophet might promise him in the issue of this affair, he agreed unto it; and therefore Elijah desired that all Israel might be convened, that it might be openly and publicly done, and to the conviction and reformation of them, which was what was chiefly designed; and he chose Carmel, a mountain in the tribe of Issachar, well situated for the people that came from all parts; and the rather this than Samaria, that he might meet with no obstruction from Jezebel, and from whence: he might be able to see the rain when coming, as he did. Of this mountain, (see Gill on “ Jeremiah 46:18”), to which may be added, the description of it by Mr. Sandys f385 . “Mount Carmel stretcheth from east to west, and hath its uttermost basis washed with the sea; steepest towards the north, and of an indifferent altitude; rich in vines and olives when farmed, and abounding with several sorts of fruits and herbs, both medicinal and fragrant, though now much overgrown with woods and shrubs of sweet savour.”
From the following solemn transaction at it, it seems in later times, to have become sacred, and was very venerable with the Heathens; from this mountain, a deity with them had the name of Carmel, and was worshipped here, without an image or a temple, only had an altar erected for it, in imitation of the God of Israel, worshipped here in like manner; here Vespasian sacrificed to this deity, assisted by the priest of it, Basilides, as Tacitus relates; Suetonius also makes mention of this deity, and of Vespasian’s consulting its oracle, which gave him hopes of obtaining the empire; and from hence, in Popish times, there were an order of friars called Carmelites, instituted in the year 1180, pretending to be the successors of the children of the prophets Elijah left there: and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty ; who are supposed to be dispersed in the various parts of the kingdom, to teach and practise the worship of Baal, and encourage and spread it in the nation: and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table ; for it seems there were now more groves than that one Ahab first made, ( 1 Kings 16:33), for which such numbers were appointed to attend, and which, perhaps, were near Samaria, since they ate at Jezebel’s table, and were a sort of domestic chaplains of her’s. “Asheroth”, we render “groves”, the learned Selden takes to be Ashtoreth, or Ashtareth, or Astarte, the goddess of the Zidonians, for whom, and so for these prophets, Jezebel might have a peculiar respect, (see 1 Kings 11:5).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 17-20 - One may guess how people stand affected to God, by observing how the stand affected to his people and ministers. It has been the lot of the best and most useful men, like Elijah, to be called and counted the troublers of the land. But those who cause God's judgments do the mischief, not he that foretells them, and warns the nation to repent.
Original Hebrew
ועתה 6258 שׁלח 7971 קבץ 6908 אלי 413 את 853 כל 3605 ישׂראל 3478 אל 413 הר 2022 הכרמל 3760 ואת 853 נביאי 5030 הבעל 1168 ארבע 702 מאות 3967 וחמשׁים 2572 ונביאי 5030 האשׁרה 842 ארבע 702 מאות 3967 אכלי 398 שׁלחן 7979 איזבל׃ 348
